HARRISBURG (AP) — A judge plans to hear arguments in January on whether former Penn State president Graham Spanier should be allowed to delay proceedings in his defamation claim against former FBI director Louis Freeh and Freeh’s law firm.

Pennsylvania court officials on Wednesday announced a Jan. 9 hearing on Spanier’s request to have the civil case put on hold while he defends himself against criminal charges related to the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Spanier initiated the case by filing a one-page document but not a full legal complaint. Freeh’s lawyers argue against the delay, saying the defamation charge is hurting Freeh’s reputation without providing any substantiation.

Freeh and his colleagues produced a Penn State-paid report that was critical of how Spanier and others handled complaints about Sandusky in 1998 and 2001.